Bracket for lamps



Sept. 29, 1925. 1,555,659

J. J. GOUGH BRACKET FOR LAMPS Filed April 13. 192;

M I l/A Patented Sept. 29, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES J. GOUGH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR '10 CHICAGO ELECTRIC MANUFAC- TUBING CO., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

BRACKET FOR LAMPS.

Application filed April 13, 1925. Serial No. 22,684.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES J. GoUoH, citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook andSt-ate of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Bracket for Lamps; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to lamp brackets adapted to be secured interchangeably to supports of varying shapes and arranged both for permitting an instantaneous shifting of the position of the lamp and for hold- .ing the lamp in any adjusted position.

In using socalled spot lamps on automobiles, it is highly important that the user should be able to shift the axis of the lamp (and more particularly the axis of the reflector back of the lamp bulb) speedily and without being required to use tools, also, that the lamp should readily remain in any osition to which it has been moved. It is ikewise important that the supporting means should be easy of attachment to lamp constructions of various types and to variously shaped arts of automobiles. Furthermore, it is highly desirable that the supporting means rovided for this urpose should not inter ere with the provisions for switching the lamp bulb on or oil and that the entire construction should be simple and inexpensive.

My present invention aims to provide a lamp bracket which will meet all of these requirements and which will be particularly suitable for use with spot lamps having rearwardly projecting stems, although I do not wish to be limited to the use of my invention with any particular type of lamp. Still further and also more detailed objects will appear from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1' is a side elevation of a lamp bracket embodying my invention, showing this as supporting a standard type of spot lamp and as secured to a support having a flat forward face.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section taken transversely of Fig. 1 along the line 22 of that figure.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken through the forward end of the lower or supporting member of the bracket along the line 3--3 of Fig 2.

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the supporting member of the bracket, with a portion cut away to show the disposition of the bolt whlchholds it in clamping relation to an auxiliary member, the latter being fastened to a support.

Fig. 5 is a central and longitudinal horizontal section through the rear bracket portion, showing this as directly engaging an automobile body frame part of oval section.

Fig. 6 is a plan view, showing the rear bracket portions as clamping another automobile portion.

In the embodiment of Fig. 1, I am showing C my lamp bracket as employed in connection with a spot lamp including a lamp body 1 carrying a rearwardly projecting stem, which stem includes a cylindrical socket shell 2 and a collar 3 surrounding the portion of this socket shell immediately back of the lamp body 1. To support such a spot lamp, I provide a clamping member consisting of a downwardly open U-shaped mem her having its bight 4 slipped over the collar 3 and extending considerably more than half way around the circumference of this collar so that its downwardly directed shanks 5 underhang the collar, thereby permitting this clamping member to be fastened firmly to'the collar by a screw 6 threaded through the top of the said bight.

As the support for the clamping member which thus grips the lamp stem, I provide a stationary bracket portion which has its main or supporting member composed of a flat band of steel bent to a substantially V- shaped formation affording a pair of diverging arms 7, which arms arenormally spread apart by the resiliency of the metal but can be drawn towards each other by abolt 8 extending through alined perforations in the two arms at a considerable distance from the juncture of the arms. At this juncture of the arms, the said V-shaped supporting member is. curved to an incomplete tubular section of such a bore as to snugly fit the stem 9 of a. riser or pivot member which has an enlarged shank portion 10 engaging the upper edge of the forward or adjoined ends of the arms 7, this shank portion being connected by a slender neck 11 to a top portion in the form of a ball 12. The ball 12 has oppositely facing portions extending into alined perforations 13 formed respectively in the two shanks of the lamp-gripping clamping member. Each of the said bores 13 is smaller in diameter than the ball 12, and the spacing between the shanks 5 is also less than the said diameter, thereby permitting the ball to be gripped by the inwardly directed edges of the said bores in the shanks 5 when these shanks are drawn towards each other by a bolt 14 which extends freely through the said shanks between the said bores 13- and the bight of the clamp. By making the bores 13 cylindrical and desirably at right angles to the flat faces of the shanks 5, I cause the ball to engage only the latter sharp edges of the opposed bore ends,

' thereby maintaining the clamp locked on the ball in any position while employing a clamping pressure which will still permit the clamping member and the lamp to be moved freely in any direction with respect to the said ball. I

To prevent the riser or pivot member from rotating bodily with respect to the adjoined ends of the diverging arms 7 of the supporting member, I preferably do not depend entirely on the gripping of the stem of this riser by the tubular portion 15 at the juncture of the arms 7, but provide positive means also for preventing such rotation. For this purpose, I am showing the said tubular portion 15 at the juncture of these arms as provided at its lower forward edge with a notch 16 into which aportion of the lower end of the stem 9 has been forced, as shown in Fig. 3, so as to form a finger 17 engaging the lateral walls of the slot 16 and prevented by such engagement from permitting the pivot member to rotate about its vertical axis. Thus arranged, the finger 17 also prevents the pivot member from being moved upwardly and hence cooperates with the enlarged stem portion 10 in retaining the pivot member in a rigidly fixed position with respect to the supporting member.

For the supporting end of the supporting member,'I preferably employ a construction which will enable this member to be secured direct by a clamping engagement to posts or the like, and which also will permit the sup orting to be efiect-ed through the interme iary of an auxiliary element. With this in mind, 11 bend the rear ends of the arms 7 into hook formations 18 concaved toward each other and spread apart so that they can readily be slipped over a standard size of frame member as commonly employed on automobiles, such as the frame member 14 of Fig. 5, thereby permitting the supporting member to be clamped firmly to such a frame member by tightening a bolt 8 which extend-s through the diverging arms 7 between the juncture of these arms and their said concaved free ends.

Then I also provide an auxiliary member adapted to be gripped by the same concaved free ends and constructed so that it can be secured b screws or bolts to a support. This auxi iary member desirably comprises a pair of spaced arms 20 and 21 connected by a base portion 22 which has a flat back adapted to bear against a support, such as a frame portion 23 shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, the base portion having perforations for receiving the screws 24 which secure it to the said frame portion. The spaced arms 20 and 21 have portions 34 bent toconform to the shape of the concaved-ends 18 of the clamping member and spaced so as to be gripped between the said ends 18 when the bolt 8 is tightened, and each arm 20 and 21 also preferably has its said portion 34 spaced from the base portion 22 so as to clear any shallow projections on the frame part 23.

Since the auxiliary member as thus described can be cheaply made from strip steel, its inclusion adds but little to the total cost of my bracket, and indeed, the entire cost of the illustrated type is quite small. By suitably concaving the arms ends 18 toward each other, I adapt my bracket for a direct gripping of supports of considerably varying sizes and shapes, and by also including the auxiliary supportin member, I enable the user to fasten my bracket also to any flat surfaced supports. Consequently, the spot lamp manufacturer or dealer does not need to inquire as to the type or make of automobile on which the lamp is to be used, as lamps furnished with such brackets will be interchangeably suitable for use under widely varying conditions.

By employing sharp gripping edges in association with the ball on the pivot member, I secure the highly desirable ball and socket joint in an inexpensive construction and one which will not require any manipulation of the bolt 14 either to prevent an adjusting of the position of the lam or to lock the lamp in adjusted position. oreover, since such lamps usually have rearwardly projecting stems, a simple clamp formed from a strip of steel suffices for attaching my bracket to the lamp, and this can be so short as not to interfere with the control of the light through a switching handle 25 as commonly iamployed at the rear end of the stem of the amp.

In practice, I also desirably space the arms 20 of the auxiliary member of my lamp bracket to correspond to the width of the front riser frame portions on certain makes of touring cars, thereby permitting this auxiliary member to be slipped over such a frame'portion 26 from the rear of the latter after the/manner shown in Fig. 6. Then a tightening of the bolt 8 not only causes the hook ends 18 of the arms 7 to grip the outwardly convexed ends 34 of the arms 20 but also bends the latter into a tight gri ping relation to the frame portion 26.

1118 constructed, my lamp bracket is adapted to be attached interchangeably to automobiles having widely varying types of fronts, thereby permitting a single size to be funished for use on a wide variety of cars.

However, while I have illustrated and described the lamp bracket of my invention as employed in connection with a common type of spot lamp, I do not wish to be limited to this particular application of the same, Neither do I wish to be limited to the details of construction and arrangement, or to the particular shapes of certain parts, as here disclosed, it being obvious that many changes might be made without departing either from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims. I

I claim as my invention 1. A bracket for a lamp, comprising a clamping member secured to the lamp and having a pair of resilient and spaced arms provided with alined perforations, a supporting member having a pair of resilient and spaced arms provided at their free ends with means for securing the same to a support, a pivot member secured to the supporting member at the juncture of the arms thereof and having a ball-shaped end disposed between the spaced arms of the clamping member and entering the said perforations, and means forcing the arms of the clamping member towards each other to cause the opposed end portions of the said perforations to grip the said ball-shaped end, the pivot member having a stem disposed between the arms of the supporting member, the said arms being connected by a bight disposed in clamping relation to the said stem and having a recess therein, the stem having an integral projection entering the said recess to prevent the pivot member from rotating.

2. A bracket for a lamp, comprising a clamping member secured to the lamp and having apair of resilient and spaced arms provided with alined perforations, a supporting member havin a pair of resilient and spaced arms provi ed at their free ends with means for securing the same to a support, a pivot member secured to the supporting member at the juncture of the arms thereof and having a ball-shaped end disposed between the spaced arms of the clamping member and entering the said perforations, and means forcing the arms of the clamping member towards each other to cause the opposed end portions of the said perforations to grip the said ball-shaped end, the supporting member comprising a metal strip bent into a V-shaped formation and secured at the apex of the said formation to the pivot member, and arms of the said V-shaped formation having their free ends concaved toward each other toadapt them to grip a support between them.

3. A bracket for a lamp, comprising a clamping member secured to the lamp and havin a pair of resilient and spaced arms provi ed with alined perforations, a supporting member having a. pair of resilient and spaced arms provided at their free ends with means for securing the same to a support, a pivot member secured to the supporting member at the juncture of the arms thereof and having a ball-shaped end disposed between the spaced arms of the clamping member and entering the said perforations, and means forcing the arms of the clamping member towards each other to cause the opposed end portions of the said perforations to grip the said ball-shaped end, the supporting member comprising a metal strip bent into a V-shaped formation anfi secured at the apex of the said formation to the pivot member, and arms of the said V-shaped formation having their free ends concaved toward each other; in combination with an auxiliary member having a pair of spaced arm portions adapted to be disposed between and gripped by thefree ends of the arms of the supporting member, the auxiliary member having a portion coSnneoting its spaced arms and adapted to be secured to a support.

4. A bracket for a lamp, comprising a clamping member secured to the lamp and having a pair of resilient and spaced arms provided with alined perforations, a supporting member having a pair of resilient and spaced arms provided at their free ends with means for securing the same to a support, a pivot member secured to the supportin member at the juncture of the arms thereof and having a ball-shaped end disposed between the spaced arms of the clamping member and entering the said perforations, and means'forcing the arms of the clamping member towards each other to cause the opposed end portions of the said perforations to grip the said ball-shaped end, each of the said perforations being cylindrical and substantially at right angles to the flat face of the arm through which it extends and smaller in diameter than the said ball-shaped end, thereby providing a sharp cylindrical perforation end engaging the said ball-shaped end.

5. A lamp bracket as per claim 1, in which the pivot member has a portion spaced from the said finger and engaging an edge of the supporting member to cooperate with the finger in preventing longitudinal movementof the pivot member in both directions with respect to the supporting member.

6. A bracket for a lamp, comprising a supporting member having a pair of rearwardly divergindg arms whose rear ends are concaved towar s each other, means adjustably mounted on the forward end of the supporting member for holding a lamp,

an auxiliary member having a pair of spaced arms adapted to rip a support between them and formed m respectively on agin the aforesaid'concaved rear arm en 8, an

means for forcibly approaching the arms of the supporting memberso as to cause their rear ends to force the arms of the auxiliary member into firm gripping relat'ion to the support.

7. A bracket for a lamp, comprising a supporting member having a pair of rearwardly diverging arms whose rear ends are concaved towards each other, means adjustably mounted on the forward endof the supporting member for holding a lamp, an auxilia member having a pair of spaced U arms apted to ip a support between them and formed or respectively e the aforesaid concaved rear arm edifs and means for iorcibly a proaching the arms of the sup rting mem r so as to cause their 3 rear en s to force the arms of the auxiliary member into firm gripping relation to the support, the auxiliary member also havin a portion connecting its said arms an adapted tobear against the rear of the support.

Signed 1925.

JAMES J. GOUGH.

at Chicago, Illinois, April 10th, 

